


Baby Bird

by Blissaster



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Bat Family, Brotherly Love, Family, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 21:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6168013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blissaster/pseuds/Blissaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian is the youngest in the family. And, no matter what people say, his brothers are protective of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Bird

**Author's Note:**

> **Thanks to:** My darling beta, **BookJunkie** of FFn.

I would not say that Grayson is the best of us Robins, but I will, begrudgingly, admit that the man may be the kindest. To be honest, I am not even sure how a man as... nice as Grayson has been able to survive in our line of work for so long. Then again, maybe it is because he had had Father as a partner. (But then, he has been going solo for years and he's survived all this time.)

So, yes, Grayson may not be the best Robin, but he is certainly the nicest. He wears his heart on his sleeve. And he has a bleeding heart at that. He is easy to trust and even easier to forgive. (Though whether or not the man can _forget_ is another matter altogether.)

And yet... Despite all his kindness and sweetness, Grayson can be downright _scary_ when angry. Especially when one of the people he cares about is threatened in some way.

Oh, it does not matter to the man if the person in question can defend themselves. (I once saw Grayson become unnecessarily violent because someone hurt Father. And Father was the Batman. He was undefeatable.)

Grayson has always said he loves me. But I did not always believe him. Even I know I am not the easiest person to get along with.

And yet...

Whenever I get hurt, Grayson – who is supposed to be nice and sweet and gentle – gets angry. Not at me for being inadequate, but at those people who dared to lay a hand on me. And the most absurd thing is that the man gets angry at himself too. For being unable to protect me, he once said.

I called it bullshit. I was not a child as much as Grayson liked to think that I was. More importantly though, I was not defenseless; I could protect myself. I should have been able to protect myself. So if I got hurt, it would have been no one's fault but my own.

Grayson insisted it was not my fault though. And the man could be really stubborn when he wanted to. So I relented.

"Okay," I told Grayson. "It wasn't my fault." Grayson looked satisfied, but only for a moment. Then I continued, "Neither was it yours."

Grayson looked away then.

"It wasn't," I insisted. Because apparently, stubbornness was a trait that ran in the family.

There was a beat of silence...

"Okay," Grayson said in the end.

I was not so sure the man meant it, but I decided it would good enough for the time being. I nodded decisively.

Grayson is the nicest of all the Robins. He is sweet and warm and kind. But he can be fierce when he is protecting something, _someone_ he holds dear. And he seems to fight for me the hardest.

_So, it's safe to assume he loves me, right?_

* * *

People have called Todd a 'bad influence,' the 'black sheep' of the family – and what a joke that is; every member of this family lives and basks in darkness, what did it matter what color Todd is. Still, even Grayson has shown himself to be wary of Todd, telling me I should stay away from him.

No, he is not afraid of Todd. You see, he is afraid _for_ me.

He is afraid Todd will hurt me.

Heh, I would like to see him try.

People have called Todd the most violent among the Robins. And I am inclined to agree. He is unstable. Crazy.

And yet...

He turns his back to me, thinking – trusting – that I will not stab him there. And why does he do this? To put himself between me and my enemies.

"Close your eyes, Baby Bird. Things are about to get bloody," Todd said one night, in a mocking sing-song voice. He grinned from ear to ear as he readied his guns.

My first reaction that day was to snap at him, to make it clear that 1) I was not squeamish – I could handle a little bit of blood (I was raised as assassin for fuck's sake!) and 2) he was never to call me Baby Bird. Only Grayson could call me that; he was the only one who acted like a... Big Bro—Bird, so he deserved to be the only one with that privilege.

But...

Todd was shooting at the thugs that had threatened me. To kill.

It was wrong. It was against the Bat's code. And yet...

_He was doing it for me._

So I let it slide, him calling me Baby Bird. Just that once though.

* * *

To be brutally honest, I never expected Drake – of all people – to warm up to me. I thought, over time, we might learn to be civil to each other – because Pennyworth was always upset when we fought, and no one, _no one_ would want to upset Pennyworth – but that would be it. I expected to always see him as nothing but an annoyance. And vice versa. But then one day...

"Demon Brat," Impulse called to me.

My hand clenched by my side, I wanted to snarl at him. I may let Todd call me that, occasionally Drake, but no one else!

I was about to show that simpleton what I was capable of when I felt a hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. I looked back at Drake.

"Let go," I hissed through gritted teeth. If he did not let me punch Impulse in the face, I was fully prepared to punch him instead.

But he did not let go. I thought he would start to scold me, preaching about better control or something similar – as though he was better than me – but to my surprise, he instead turned to look at his teammate and said, "You shouldn't call him that."

"Why not?"

"It's rude," Drake replied simply.

"But you call him that all the time," Impulse pointed out.

"Well, I _get_ to call him that. You don't." Drake's eyes turned to look at his other teammates then. "None of you do. No one but _me_."

The vehemence in his voice took me by surprise. But I would rather be damned than let it show.

I stayed silent, watching, wondering what Drake would do next.

"Well that's not fair!"

"Life's unfair. Deal with it," was Drake's cold answer.

"But—"

Drake rolled his eyes impatiently. "It's big brothers' privilege," he said before anyone could say anything more. His answer caught me off-guard. There was such plain honesty in his voice. I could only stare in disbelief as he continued, "So, unless you want to claim _my_ Demon Brat as your brother, you are to stop calling him that."

The possessive determiner he used did not escape my notice. Nor did the emphasis he put on it.

Huh.

Who knew possessiveness was contagious?

Impulse scrunched up his nose. "Ugh. No thanks."

I was still staring hard at Drake when the idiot moved away. "Did you just call me your brother?" I asked.

"What of it?" Drake asked back, voice totally calm. He stared back at me, as if daring me to take issue with what just happened.

"Nothing," I said eventually.

Drake smirked. "That's what I thought."

Then it was my turn to roll my eyes, though I said nothing.

* * *

**Epilogue**

"Baby Bird," called Grayson in a sing-song voice.

I scowled up at him automatically. "How many times must I tell you? _Stop_ calling me that!"

"Yeah, Dickhead, stop calling him that," Todd said, a wicked grin on his face.

I turned to look at Todd, narrowing my eyes in suspicion as I wondered why he'd decided, completely out of the blue, to defend me. Todd was not the type to side with _anyone_ , least of all me. _So… why?_

"You should call him Baby _Brat_ , instead!" Todd cackled.

I glared at him. _I should've known!_

"Aw, don't be a meanie, Jason! You could hurt Little Demon's feelings!" Drake said while he gleefully tried to ruffle my hair.

Emphasis on tried; I swatted his hand away before it could get anywhere close to my head. _As if I would let the like of him touch me!_

Todd snorted. "As if the Brat even has feelings."

I had had enough of these two idiots talking about me as if I were not here. I balled my hands into fists, ready to argue and fight if, _when_ , necessary, but Grayson stopped me before I could do anything, by pulling me close and wrapping his arm around my waist. His grip was tight enough that I could not easily pull away. Not without fighting him.

"Stop teasing Dami," Grayson scolded them.

"But Dick! If we don't, who will?" Drake asked. His eyes widened in fake innocence.

"Yeah, Dickhead, who will? You scare everyone who dares to even look at the Brat wrong!"

Even without checking, I could tell that Grayson was rolling his eyes. "Put all the blame on me, why don't you?" he grumbled good-naturedly, under his breath. "But I'm not the only who does that, am I?" he wondered, more loudly.

Drake looked away, pink dusting his cheeks as he mumbled, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Me? Defending the Brat? As if!" Todd scoffed.

I'd had a feeling that Grayson knew about the time Todd had chosen to kill for me. (Somehow, he _always_ knew about such things. But then, he _had_ been the Batman, once. However brief it had been.)

But this was just too good an opportunity to waste.

I slyly pulled away from Grayson, just enough that I could turn and look at him. "Todd was _gracious_ enough to help me fend off a group of goons the other day, even if he knew I was more than capable of handling them," I explained, smiling a saccharine sweet smile. From the corner of my eye, I could see Todd's eye twitch.

"It was only once!" he hissed.

"See? He won't even try to deny it!" I crowed in glee.

"Why you little brat…!"

If looks could kill, I would have died quite a painful death with how intense of a glare Todd sent my way. As it was, I just smirked up at him, basking in my triumph.

Drake chuckled softly at that while Grayson laughed outright. Making my so-called oldest brother laugh so boisterously may have made me feel rather happy too, but it couldn't be my fault if Grayson's joy was contagious!

"Well, in our— _my_ defense—" Drake changed the wording after catching Todd's glare. ( _Wimp._ ) "—I'd say we're just following your example," Drake was scratching his cheek awkwardly as he said this. "Nobody messes with our family, right?" He looked up at Grayson shyly, for approval.

Grayson looked astonished for a brief moment before a wide smile broke out on his face. "Yeah. Nobody messes with our family," he murmured softly, happily putting _both_ of his arms around me to pull me into a protective embrace.

If I rolled my eyes any harder, they would have fallen out of their sockets. Once again, here was Grayson being overprotective over me. Stupidly so.

Oh, I could have easily pulled away from him, out of his embrace. But then I'd have to deal with his whining all day long. Grayson being his overprotective self was far less messy than Grayson sulking, after all. There were no false tears, no pouting lips, and no long, exaggerated sighs to draw my attention and sympathy. I certainly didn't _like_ it when Grayson doted on me. I was not a child. I did not need to be coddled.

"You all do realize that I am fully capable of taking care of myself, don't you?" I asked, speaking loudly enough to get everyone's attention.

When Grayson looked down at me his eyes were shining with amusement. "Sure do, Baby Bird," was his answer.

"Then you don't have to—"

"It's not that big a deal," Drake said, cutting me off. "We do know, _exactly_ , what you're capable of. It's not like we go out of our way to help you, anyway." He crinkled his nose in distaste at the thought.

"Hear, hear!" Todd was quick to agree.

"We don't get to spoil you all that often, Little D. So, in the rare times we get to, you should just, you know, _let_ us."

"Not 'all that often'?" I echoed Grayson's words incredulously.

"Not as often as I'd like, anyway," Grayson conceded.

I huffed. "You'd spoil me rotten if you got your way."

"Is that so wrong? After all, you're the baby in the family."

I mulled over his words for a moment before shrugging. "Whatever," I said nonchalantly. "I'm tired of this conversation. This trivial matter is hardly worth my time, anyway. "

Todd smirked. "Ha, just admit that you _do_ like it, Brat!"

"Shut it, Todd."

**End.**

**Author's Note:**

>  **A/N:** This story was supposed to be a triple drabbles. But BJ suggested (it all was her fault! ;p) that I gave some kind of epilogue (well, I agreed with her actually) and I swear, I was only going to add several lines, just to show that Dick and Jason and Timmy knew they were, kinda, coddling Damian. And to show you that Damian did let them do the coddling. But then, somehow the epilogue almost became as long as not-epilogue part. Eh.
> 
> And I was (still am) not sure the part about Tim. It's hard for me to write him. Not to mention, in this story, I just don't know if Impulse is the right person to be, well, the bad guy. But I can't think of anyone else! Oh well. Critics are always welcomed anyway.
> 
> Just like most of my stories, this story is fluffy. And while I enjoy writing sweet, cute stories, but I am thinking that maybe (just maybe), I should start writing something else? Something more serious, maybe? What do you think?
> 
> Oh, thank you for reading and/or giving kudos/comment. I really appreciate your feedback!
> 
> I rarely finish a story nowadays. But from time to time, I'll write a drabble and post it on [Tumblr](http://blissaster.tumblr.com/). And ideas are always welcome. :)
> 
> **Standard disclaimer applied.**


End file.
